LIVE: Beans on Toast w/ Benjamin Folke Thomas @ Tooting Tram & Social, London, 28.05.15

Kicking off the evening at Tooting Tram & Social – tucked away in an alley in Tooting, with a Jamaican fast food van out front and inside feeling like a bizarre mix of a Whetherspoons pub and some sort of social club – Benjamin Folke Thomas took to the stage. Bob Dylan-esque vocals and his unique charm and wit, the Swedish singer-songwriter took just seconds to win over the crowd. Heartbreaking love songs about a love affair with an evangelical christian at 15 years old and sing-a-longs based on texts from an ex-girlfriend left the audience not knowing whether to laugh and cry. Even covering a Beans on Toast song, which he passed off as an unfinished one of his own, Thomas perfectly set the mood for the evening, and – very deservingly – managed to flog a few CDs in doing so.

Beans On Toast (AKA Jay McAllister) launches into his set – although he makes a point that this is not actually the start of his set yet – with a half-written song claiming that he’s going to kill David Cameron. Proceeding to crouch next to the stage before running back on (the ‘real’ start of the gig), Jay, now accompanied by Bobby Banjo, launches into a set.

The gig continues in the normal manner of a Beans on Toast gig; with a plethora of tales about war, drugs, festivals and touring it’s charmingly honest and witty, and endlessly fun. After the likes of ‘Folk Singer’, ‘War on War’, and ‘Fuck You Nashville’, it would seem that Jay had been on stage too long already. Not by way of ending the gig, of course, but rather moving the stage into the middle of the audience – and after accidentally creating an awkward catwalk and wrapping a section of the audience in his mic lead, he launched into ‘Things’. What is perhaps one of the best things about Beans On Toast’s gigs is that his rambling explanations – which he so profusely apologises for – are just as welcome by the audience as the music is. Sure, they pay to see him sing about Glastonbury and Lizzy Bee and everything in between, but it’s his stories that make the gigs what they are.

As full of crowd participation as ever, Jay invites an audience member on stage to help him remember the words for ‘M.D.M.Amazing’ before asking for song requests. The first of two failed attempts at a crowd supplied setlist, Jay snubs the audiences bizarre requests until the middle ground – and rather welcome Lizzy Bee-themed love song – of ‘Keep You’ is reached. A reggae song, a dire straits cover and ‘My New Number One’ later, crowd request part two ends, rather predictably, with Jay choosing them himself. And quite rightly so: ‘Don’t Believe The Bullshit’ went down a treat of course, as did ‘Blowjob For The Blues’ and (the only successful crowd request) ‘Harry In A Helicopter’ was lapped up gratefully. Finishing on ‘A Whole Lot of Loving’ and ‘The Price of Rice’, Bobby Banjo left the stage, swiftly followed by Jay who had to collect his shoes from the back of the stage. Whilst everyone seemed surprisingly clean for the end of a Beans on Toast gig, they were suitably happy; a true feel good gig and the perfect end to a tour.